Fresh Cuisine

COMMON THREADS BENEFIT

Tomorrow I will be attending the Common Threads benefit in Chicago.  Common Threads teaches low income children to cook healthy affordable meals.  The cooking classes that are offered to children teach the importance of nutrition and help prevent childhood obesity. See more about Common Threads at www.commonthreads.org. 

Better Butter

The best butter is made from local fresh cream.  I had no idea where to go to find fresh cream in our area. I new there must be a small dairy in the area, but where?  I sent an e-mail to one of our local food enthusiast/ food columnist Julianne Glatz.  She pointed me north approximately 75 miles from Springfield just past Bloomington to Kilgus Farmstead. Kilgus is a family operation that produces fresh dairy products: Cream, milk, cheese and more. I purchased cream for the butter and milk for ricotta cheese.  Making the butter was easier then I imagined.  See below for instructions.
     For the butter I used just short of half a gallon of cream.  I saved a cup and half out for later use. Pour the cream into the stainless steel bowl of a kitchenaide mixer.  Turn the mixer on medium and let the cream do its magic until it becomes fluffy, then turns into soft cottage cheese curds.  At this point the cream turns to butter and will get stiff, you will see a watery milk(buttermilk) substance at the bottom of the bowl.  You can stop the mixer, with a large flat spatula press the butter against the side of the bowl to release more of the buttermilk.  Drain off the buttermilk into a jar, if you think you will use it another time or discard it.  Poor ice cold water over the butter and press against the bowl again to release the buttermilk, continue this process 6-7 times until liquid is clear.  Scrape butter on to plastic wrap and form a ball or log shape.  If you like you can add a variety of herbs or salt to the butter, just need them into the butter before wrapping in plastic wrap.  Before placing  butter in the refrigerator, wrap again in foil.  Butter will keep 3-4 days in the refrigerator or 2-3 weeks in the freezer.

Instructions for making the butter came from Organic Gardening Magazine Feb/March 2010 issue.

Thanks to Julianne Glatz for her guidance.  See Juliannes column in the Illinois Times.

Missouri Wine Festival

    Last week I attended The Missouri Wine Festival at Wesport Plaza in St Louis.  There were 13 winerys and vineyards all displaying there best wines. The attendants was very good, with everyone mixing, mingling and tasting. My personal favorites were:  A fruity Raspberry Weisser Fielder from Bias Vineyards & Winery, another fruity and fragrant choice Huzzah Valley from Peaceful Bend Vineyard and a semi dry Little Hills Traminette from Little Hills Winery. My choices were all white wines.  A good time was had by all, looking forward to next years winefest.
  
 

GRAPEFRUIT RISOTTO

GRAPEFRUIT RISOTTO

The recipe for this Risotto is from the book RISOTTO by Judith Barrett and Norma Wasserman.

Ingredients

5 Cups chicken broth(reserve 1/4 cup)

3 T extra virgin olive oil

1/2 Cup finely chopped leek, white part only

3 T finely chopped celery

1 1/2 Cup Arborio Rice

1 Cup grapefruit juice

1 T chopped fresh parsley

1 T unsalted butter  

1/4 Cup parmesan cheese and 4 grapefruit sections dice                                       

                                                           

    Bring the chicken broth to simmer in a  saucepan on the stove. In a separate 4 quart casserole heat 3 T of olive oil  on medium-low heat add the leek and celery saute until leek is transparent.  Add the rice to the casserole and stir a  minutes or so till rice is transparent(use a wooden spoon).  Add the grapefruit juice stir until obsorbed. Begin to add warm broth 1/2 cup at a time stiring constantly, make sure broth is absorbed before adding the next 1/2 cup of broth.  Continue adding broth until it is gone. This process should take 18-20 minutes.  When the rice is tender add the reserved 1/4 cup of broth, turn of heat and add butter, parsley and parmesan cheese. Stir well and garnish with parsley and grapefruit slices.  Makes 4 servings.

Note:  The key to good risotto is to slowly add the broth and stir so the risotto does not stick to the bottom of the pan. 

EXTRA VIRGIN-EXTRA SPECIAL OLIVE OIL

     Olive oil is truly the nectar of the gods.  Marianne Prey the owner of Extra Virgin An Olive Ovation lead a recent class, all about olive oil.  Marianne lead the class through the process of growing, picking and pressing olives.  The class was also informed that there are several grades of olive oil: Extra Virgin, Virgin, Olive Oil (pure olive oil) and Olive Pomace Oil.   We also discussed the health benefits of olive oil and regions of the world where olive oil is produced.  The class included  tasting three distinctly different oils.  Marianne then suprised us with preparing three different risottos using each of the oils.  All three risottos were delicious:  Grapefruit risotto(risotto al pompelmo), tuna risotto(risotto al tonnato) and butternut squash risotto(risottoconla zucca).  The grapefruit risotto was my favorite, I made this at home.  The taste of the grapefruit juice was delicious in the  risotto. This class was very informative, I learned alote about the joy of cooking with olive oil. The class took place at the Kitchen Conservatory in St Louis MO.

     After the olive oil tasting class I made the trip down to St Louis again to visits Marianne Prey at her store Extra Virgin Olive An Ovation. While there we discussed how to buy olive oil and how to store it.  I found out I was storing my olive oil in the wrong place in the kitchen. Setting olive oil next to the stove is not a good place, the heat from the stove will damage the oil.  Olive oil should be kept in a cool dark place. 

At Extra Virgin there are 20 or more different olive oils to taste, a variety of olives and balsamic vinegars. I went home with three different olive oils:  Extra Virgin Olive Oil Estate Grown-Domaine Le Grand Servant en Provence for everyday use, Les Costes Extra Virgin Olive Oil Limited Selection 2009 from Spain for special recipes and Olivas de Oro Estate Grown Organic from California Mandarin Orange Olive Oil. I also purchased a 2 liter Fusti, a stainless steel decanter.  The Fusti sits on your kitchen counter filled with your favorite olive oil, already to use.

Extra Virgin An Olive Ovation-143 Carondelet Plaza Clayton, Missouri 63105

                    




                                                                      

CHOCOLATE- CHOCOLATE-CHOCOLATE

This milk chocolate Pots De Creme was my little Valentines Day treat.
Milk chocolate cream, macadamia nuts, whipping cream and a little caramel sculpture.

Last Minute Valentines Day Shopping.

Yesterday I dashed over to Del's Popcorn Shop for last minute Valentines Day treats.  Del's has a huge variety of popcorn, candies, nuts and ice cream.  I found everything I wanted in one place. I am ready for the big day, well almost.

Del's Popcorn located Downtown Springfield IL.

WWW.DelsPopcornShop.com

Local foods trend sprouts up in Illinois - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register

Shannon KirshnerExecutive chef Jordan Coffey of Augie’s Front Burner prepares locally bought food from Veenstra’s Vegetables during Local Flavors, a dinner series that highlights locally produced foods.

via www.sj-r.com

Local Food Movement in Springfield.

Little Bites For Any Occasion.

I served these appetizers at our superbowl party this past weekend, they were a big hit.
Fingerling potatores wraped in pancetta roasted with olive oil,garlic, oregano salt and pepper to taste.  Add a sprig of rosemary before serving.

Asparagus spears blanched and wraped in pancetta.

Spaghetti bundles topped with roasted tomatoe, olive oil, garlic and a sprinkle of basil.

Serve with grated parmesan cheese on the side.

Eat and Enjoy!

COMFORT ON A WARM WINTER NIGHT!

Mascarpone and Ricotta Cheesecake with Pomegrante Topping.

This recipe is adapted from the cook book In a Cheesemaker's Kitchen by Allison Hooper-Vermont Butter and Cheese Company.

For the Crust

• 2 cups crushed short bread cookies
• 3 tablespoons butter melted and cooled

For the filling

• 16 oz mascarpone cheese
• 16 oz ricotta cheese
• 1 1/4 Cups Sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 vanilla bean

     

Toping: Seeds from 1 pomegranate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Line the out side of a 9 inch springform pan with foil.  Make sure you cover the outside bottom of the pan tightly with the foil, set aside.  For the crust place shortbread in food processor and process until well ground, add butter and process a few seconds. Place this mixture in the prepared springform pan and use your fingers to spread the crust to cover the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Place crust in the oven bake for 12-15 minutes and cool.

Filling

With a blender mix the mascarpone, ricotta and sugar until fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time then add the egg yolks,blend well.  Add the vanilla from vanilla bean, scrape bowl with a spatula and blend for 30 seconds.  Pour filling into the prepared springform pan and place the pan in a warm water bath (see photo above).  Bake the cheesecake 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Turn off the oven, let the cheesecake cool inside the oven for  45 minutes with the oven door open.  Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let cool to room temperature, refrigerate cake overnight.  Remove cheesecake from springform pan and serve with pomegranate seeds.

Note: To remove vanilla from vanilla bean, slice bean length wise down the middle with a sharp knife.  Open the bean flat with two fingers and scrape out the vanilla with your knife.

 Water Bath-Place spirngform pan in a roasting pan or skillet and fill the roasting pan with water until water comes half way up the side of the springform pan.

Enjoy!